Thursday, October 30, 2014

First off I want to apologize for the late entry... Life gets in the way sometimes, but now I am here! So without further adieu...

My Blogpost!!

Submission...

I was going to write a whole lot about God's will for women, especially younger women. So I am going to start with submission! I know what you are thinking, I don't have a husband, who am I going to submit to? Well here is your answer, if you are young, it begins now....a long time ago and you are ahead of the game.

Godly submission in a woman is beautiful. It is God honoring, husband honoring, father and mother honoring...it is also very self honoring. It is humble, meek, longsuffering, supportive, encouraging, undemanding and absolutely a cherished virtue very rarely found today.

It begins with God. Submission to the Lord."Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God." 1 Corinthians 7:20-24
When we have been bought with a price...we are a bondservant to the Lord.

Believers today should still consider themselves bondservants or slaves of Christ. (1 Cor. 7:22, Eph 6:6; 2 Tim. 2:24). He is our Lord, and our allegiance is due to Him alone. As bondservants, we renounce other masters (Matthew 6:24) and give ourselves totally to Him. (Matt. 16:24)
Being a bondservant of Christ is not drudgery. We have this promise: "Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." (Romans 6:22)

Really what this means is that we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness!! That is some good news!!
We are freed to submit to Christ.
Submission is power because we no longer rely on our own strength but on that of the CREATOR of the universe!!!

And when we have submitted to the Lord, we study His character.
Jesus, as God in the flesh, submitted to the Father unto death.
It is in the 10 Commandments...with a promise.
"Honor thy father and mother, that thy days might be long."
I am learning about putting scripture into context and although that is a whole other post, I will add that sometimes we must be careful about clinging to verses that are not meant for us. Because the 10 Commandments were written specifically for the Israelites...there were added rules and promises there that are not meant for us. In this specific case, we don't cling to the promise that we will live long in the land because that was not meant for us. We obey this commandment because it flows directly from God's character...His moral law.
In Eph. 6:1-2 scripture tells us, "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother."
It is right.
Listen and obey your parents, chances are your parents are WAY wiser than you AND hopefully are always thinking about your best interests...If your parents are not saved, there are no exceptions to submission. Pray that God would do a work in their hearts and YOU be an example of Christ to them.
Establish good relationships with your parents.
Your mom is always your first best friend...it may not look like that at times because she has been entrusted with disciplining (DISCIPLE-ing) you as well. If you are like me, then you may or may not keep your mama on her toes!! ;)
And your dad...he is your protector.
Keep close to the heart of your daddy.
Statistics show that most girls end up marrying someone just like their daddy.
CALLING ALL PAPAS OUT THERE...
be a man your daughter would marry. Treat your wife the way you would want a future son-in-law to treat your daughter!!
Keep your parents close.
If you aren't close to them, reach out! Ask to help your mom with grocery shopping or ask your dad to teach you his trade. And when you do these things TALK, make it a point to leave all electronic devices at the door and make conversation. Talking can be the best bonding time. Not only can you confide in them, they can also be be great mentors throughout life. One of the greatest traits of a parent is their helpfulness and their willingness to serve their children (something we can learn from). They feed you, house you, and make sure that at the very least, your basic needs are met. They can and SHOULD help you with almost anything from the cutest shirt to the best husband.
Which leads me to my next point...
your future spouse!
One of my favorite pastors...a Mr. Voddie Baucham has a great point in one of his sermons when he points out that we have gone from a people who arrange marriage for their children, to the boy asks the dad for the daughter, to the daughter telling the dad who she will marry and landing on the kids surprising their parents with their marriage in Vegas!!
THIS SHOULD NOT BE!!
Where I am so thankful that we are able to pray and follow the Lord's leading in a spouse, I FIRMLY BELIEVE that the family should be as much a part of choosing a husband as the daughter should be.
They may see things that I cannot. AND submission to parents leads to the submission of the husband.
Men and women are not equal. They are vastly different and designed to compliment one another. No team can function without a member...and just as true, no team can function without a leader.
That being said, there are a few things that are out responsibility when we are of marriage age. Knowing a few of these things keeps us focused in our prayer and in our submission to the Lord.
(I will insert here that if you have not read my posts on purity...please do. I do not believe in dating. I believe in courtship...or dating with a purpose. Only when both parties are ready for marriage...always involving both families and most importantly seeking God and His will together)

How can you be submissive to your husband if you don't agree with him?
I have read and learned by watching that it is no easy task. BUT it is a command of God...EVEN when you do not agree!!
However, there are key things we should be praying for in the one God would have us marry.
SO make a list, well actually two lists (this, by the way, is another great way to get your mom involved).. One for the traits you NEED and one for the traits that you would like... Of course I will not share all of my preferences (for personal reasons), but here is a few!

Godly Husband Material:

Must share my beliefs

Must be family oriented
Must agree that children are a blessing

Must seek God in His Word

Must be taller than me ;)

Must be humble and willing to learn

Must love to work hard for his family
Must honor his mother and father
Must be slow to anger
Must be a manly man and strong leader

Husband Material I would like:

loves fun and adventure

is not afraid to embarrass himself

is older than me

is handsome and debonair HA!

(My mom, dad and the Lord know the rest) ;)

Above all...Be submissive to God!!

Study the word, talk to Him, and seek His guidance. Ask Him for his will in your life, but don't ask if you don't mean it. And if you don't mean it ask him to give you the desire to want His will in your life! And don't be scared, God's will is the best will! He might want you to got to Syria as a missionary as a single woman, or He might just want you to pray for the missionaries in Syria while you become a Stay At Home Mom. You never know, except that God will guide your steps with the best intentions for His eternal purpose.

Friday, October 3, 2014

I would like to introduce to you Austin Ryan...my first Guest blogger. Austin is a friend, a peer, and most importantly a Godly role-model for myself, my brother and our family. We are so humbled and blessed to have him share his wisdom with us all. Thank you Austin for being a modern Reformer!!

What an example of USING YOUR YOUTH!

Godly manly men

I'm blessed to be apart of this preparing yourself for the future series. Men are to be leaders both in the home and the community. The main problem in the world today is that many young men who are graduating from say college or high school are coming into the world not knowing how to be a real man, not knowing how to lead their family or provide for their wife or even show commitment in their marriage. This is because the fathers today were raised by fathers who didn't know what they were doing. 75 to 85% of kids from a Christian home will reject the faith after one year of college, because they were not given a foundation. Obviously both Gabrielle and I are stressing the issue of foundations unfortunately I won't be able to mix that in this post because that is a very important issue so they'll have to wait till next week.

All other occupations or jobs are meant to support the most important occupation, that is motherhood. Fathers are to be breadwinners, they're supposed to go out and provide for the mother who stays home and teaches her kids the ways of truth. Fathers then come home and lead the family in Bible studies and worships to help the mother in building the foundation for the children of the next generation to teach the next generation. But sadly today many mothers and fathers are sending their kids to the public school system which is teaching the exact opposite of the truth. Parents I cannot stress this enough, you need to know what your kids are learning, whether that being you stay up to midnight every night teaching your kids through their homework, showing them why it's wrong and what is right, or teach them in the home through the Bible which is our ultimate foundation for truth. Christ said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life" when we realize that we become close minded, in the sense that now that we have the truth were not going to listen to any more falsehoods. In Psalms 11:3, "If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?". Adolf Hitler said, "the one who rocks the cradle is the one who rules the world." This meaning the one who raises the generation is the one is going to impact the generation for good or for bad. One excuse parents use to send their kids to public school is "oh my child will be the light in that dark place", the problem is this generation of teachers is shoving down truth or as Roman says they are "suppressing the truth in unrighteousness." Back to the subject hand, what does the Bible teach men to do?

There are three stages in a man's life, single, married, married with kids. Each one of the stages is just as important as the next one but each carrying totally different responsibilities. The first one we will examine is singleness.

Very rarely is this first stage ever called the gift of singleness, but I assure you that is very much so what this is. Do not mistake mistake for what I'm saying as an excuse to be single, but rather an encouragement to follow through with your job with this gift of singleness. There's no doubt that God calls us to certain jobs and duties throughout our lifetime. Usually when a person a single, he or she is young , has lots of time, and plenty of energy. This of course is not always the case, the apostle Paul was single, or even better unmarried, but he went out and reach multiple countries with the word of God, and wrote most of the New Testament. So when we look at the apostle Paul he obviously did not waste his singleness he went out and made difference for the Kindom. If you are a single man(or woman), get out there and use your youth to make a difference. 1 Tim 4:12,"Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe."

The second one of course is married. And compared to singleness marriage has its own new set of responsibilities including leading your wife( not the other way around) and building off each other in the Faith. The apostle Peter was married hence the verse Matt. 8:14. We don't see the apostle Peter doing as much as the apostle Paul(books and traveling) did but he was one of Jesus' 12 disciples and sat under Jesus' teaching, one thing that Paul didn't have the chance to do. I don't have much experience in this stage or the next(I'm 15) but I do know that marriage is supposed to be an example of how Christ loves the church.

Third one is married with kids. "Children are blessing from the Lord" Psalms 127:3, Children are like arrows in the hands of the mighty warrior, and the parents jobs are to train and sharpen these arrows into the world's next-generation of Christians. During this stage the man's priorities are less on himself, and more on teaching his children and setting an example. In this stage the father should be demonstrating for his sons how men should treat a woman and other men, he should be teaching his other children, both sons and daughters, how to study God's word and reach the world with the gospel, and preparing them for the stage of singleness. The best way for a father to set an example in these areas is to hold his child's hand and demonstrate by just doing it.

In short, men should be leaders in this generation, and examples to the next generation of men. Godly men need to set the bar high, then show young men how to reach for those expectations. How are you preparing yourself to impact the following generations?

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About Me

I am a Teenage Unschooler. I am in LOVE with my best friend and Redeemer, my Lord Jesus Christ! My passion is to share with others, my deep love for- God and to take you on this whirlwind journey of being ever sanctified. I pray that you are blessed while reading the thoughts of one ordinary teenage girl whose biggest dream is to be used as a light for the One True King, Jesus Christ.